The Mir mine was launched in 2009 and produces a million tonnes of diamond ore per year REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo
The Mir mine was launched in 2009 and produces a million tonnes of diamond ore per year REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

Hunt for survivors at flooded Russian diamond mine



Eight people remain missing in a flooded diamond mine, as rescuers continue to pull survivors from the disaster.

More than 100 people have been rescued from the Mir mine in Russia’s Sakha region - 2,600 miles east of Moscow - but efforts continue to retrieve those still trapped inside.

On Saturday, an injured worker was pulled alive from the mine. Alisher Mirzayev is in a serious but stable condition in hospital, according to Mir owner Alrosa.

The 36-year-old is being treated in intensive care for hypothermia, but he is expected to make a recovery.

Disaster struck on Friday afternoon when water broke through into one of the mine's pumping stations from a flooded disused crater that contained some 300,000 cubic metres of water, the emergency situations ministry said.

The volume of water is the equivalent of 120 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Alrosa said the flood was thought to have been caused by an "uncontrolled increase in the flow of water" out of the mine's abandoned crater into the underground shaft, caused by sudden geological processes and the washing away of rocks in the crater.

However, the company insisted that all of the mine's equipment had been subject to regular testing.

The Sakha region's branch of the Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement Friday that it was investigating possible safety violations at the mine.

Russian television said the rescue operation at the mine named Mir, or peace in Russian, had been hampered by a power cut that stopped the lift system from working.

Television channels showed footage posted on social media of water flooding into a control room from the ceiling of underground passageways.

Alrosa, which is Russia's largest diamond producer, said Friday that 133 people had been evacuated from the mine. Two were taken to hospital with minor injuries, the region's health ministry said.

The Mir mine was launched in 2009 and produces a million tonnes of diamond ore per year. Last year the diamonds it produced totalled 3.19 million carats, according to the company's website.

The last major mining accident in Russia saw 36 people killed by methane explosions that ripped through Severnaya coal mine north of the Arctic Circle in February 2016.

In 2010, 91 people died after a methane explosion at the Raspadskaya coal mine in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.

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  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

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  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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